Rosenstock-Huessy points out the contrast between French and English attitudes toward “old” things. Quoting on Boutmy, he says, “’ Ancien regime or ‘old France’ is objectionable in France; ‘Old England’ is a eulogy.” He adds, “To have a ‘high old time’ is as reasonable in English as it is atrocious in French to be ’ vieux jeu .’”

He emphasizes the striking fact that this fascination with age was one of the great revolutionary innovations of the Puritan Revolution.